In the face of the job-replacement trend, the training and re-training of competent artisans for the domestic and international labour market have become the top priority of the renewed hope agenda of the current Nigerian President. This paper examines Nigeria’s aspiration of training and re-training artisans, a blueprint of the 2024-2028 industrial training fund. The paper discussed the philosophical and historical perspective as well as the core value of the industrial training fund. It clarifies artisanship practices in Nigeria. The paper recommended 20 measures that seem to provide a clearer picture for young Nigerians to fulfill their dreams, increase global competitiveness, and build a prosperous and harmonious nation.
Nigeria’s Aspiration of Training and Re-Training Artisans: A Blueprint of the Industrial Training Fund 2024-2028
Abstract
In the face of the job-replacement trend, the training and re-training of competent artisans for the domestic and international labour market have become the top priority of the renewed hope agenda of the current Nigerian President. This paper examines Nigeria’s aspiration of training and re-training artisans, a blueprint of the 2024-2028 industrial training fund. The paper discussed the philosophical and historical perspective as well as the core value of the industrial training fund. It clarifies artisanship practices in Nigeria. The paper recommended 20 measures that seem to provide a clearer picture for young Nigerians to fulfill their dreams, increase global competitiveness, and build a prosperous and harmonious nation.
Introduction
The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) was established in 1971, under the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, with the mandate of promoting and encouraging the development and acquisition of industrial and commercial skills required in various sectors of the Nigeria economy. It aims to offer vocational and entrepreneurial training, consultancy, and research services, supervise students' industrial work experience schemes, and disburse a 50 percent levy paid by registered companies of Nigeria. The registered companies in Nigeria with over five staff’s strength are expected to contribute in the form of tax to the industrial training fund (ITF, 2004). The Federal Republic of Nigeria (2013) stated that industrial training funds provide training for individuals who can apply technical and scientific knowledge to solve environmental problems and offer expertise in technical subjects and skills necessary for the development of agriculture, industry, and commerce necessary for self-reliant.
The ITF holds the core value of training and retraining artisans, respects individual diver’s skills, and promotes creative minds to reduce over-dependence on paper certification and embraces manipulative potentials. Develop innovative ideas, integrate resources from various local industries to train and equip Nigerians, recreate vocational and technical education, facilitate the institutionalization of the national apprenticeship and traineeship system, create a new page for the higher education program, increase youth’s global mobility, evaluate the implementation of all electronic and virtual learning programs, provides a phase for young Nigerians to fulfill their dreams, increases global competitiveness and builds a prosperous and harmonious nation. In this regard, the training fund will focus on ensuring full adherence to standards regulating vocational skills training outfits through the accreditation of skills training centers and certification of all skills training in Nigeria (Ari, 2022).
In a global economy where a nation’s borders can no longer limit the movement of skilled workers, Nigeria appears to be lagging in the race for educated skilled workers. The ugly trend of well-trained and skilled artisans from abroad taking up domestic jobs meant for Nigeria artisans and the shortage of well-educated skilled artisans to sustain Nigeria's economy prompted the Nigerian President in January 2024 to direct the industrial training fund (ITF) to upgrade the skills of no fewer than 20 million artisans within the next five years (2024-2028). The initiative is to be carried out in phases, five million young Nigerians to be trained and retrained formally in the first year, another five million to be trained and retrained formally in the second year. The remaining 10 million to be trained and retrained in the other three years. The initiative is aimed to ensure that favorably artisans can compete favourably with their counterparts abroad.
Similarly, January 2024, the United Nations Assembly through the Nigeria Ministry of Trade and Investment launched national talent export program. A program designed to export young talents to scale up Nigerian artisans for international standards to compete globally in line with the industrial training fund blueprint for the training and retraining of young Nigerians for the domestic and international competitive labor market. Also, on August 2, 2022, the blueprint of the industrial training fund was focused on addressing unemployment and other socio-economic challenges in the country.
Sequel to this, the National Council on Skills (NCS) launched by the federal government of Nigeria in 2020 aimed to improve the employability of young Nigerians, reduce the skill gap, and ease unemployment. The focus is to identify the implementation of regular skills surveys and the gap among young Nigerians. According to the federal government of Nigeria, the training would be demand-driven and accelerate the institutionalization of the national skills framework and the coherence of skills development by the facilitation of policy for certified professionals in the country (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-International Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, UNESCO-UNEVOC 2021).
Cognitive and psychomotor training and retraining to boost domestic and international competitiveness is one of the blueprints of the 2024-2028 industrial training fund target as it's geared to combine industry experience with training experiences so that trainees can learn from both experiences. Liu (2021) reported that participation in a dual training system offers readiness to remain in a particular occupation after completing a training exercise. FRN (2013) stated that a well-structured, coordinated, and supervised industrial training program could bridge the gap between theory and practice and enable trainees to work independently after training.
Educating and training young Nigerians to become much-needed experts for the next generation and take up domestic and international jobs is the five-year aspiration of the industrial training fund. In line with this blueprint, adequate funds must be made available to ensure proper implementation. The federal, state, and private sectors, international organizations, and development partners must ensure short-, medium-, and long-term support to showcase to the world that Nigeria's aspiration of training and retraining artisans is ready to achieve its mandate.
Training and Re-Training of Artisans
Globally, the rise in the production of manufactured goods has increased the demand not only for basic and highly skilled labor but also for skilled artisans. Based on this, the Nigerian government planned to train and re-train skilled artisans in various sectors of the Nigerian economy. Artisanship training and retraining provide training opportunities for individuals at the post-basic school level (FRN, 2013). It involves the cooperation of the industries and institutions in training and retraining. The industrial training fund shall organize staff development in collaboration with proprietors of institutions and industries in the training and retraining of artisanship in Nigeria (FRN, 2013).
Artisanship practice in Nigeria is usually organized solely by private individuals popularly known as master craftsmen who train young individuals on practical skills. Young individuals enrolled after completing primary education, or a dropout from secondary education and are not able to cope with formal schooling. The young individual registered under a craftsman for a period of two or three years to learn a specific trade. During this period, the individual apprentice is expected to abide by the laid down rules and regulations of his/her master. Training and retraining of artisans in Nigeria begins by acquiring life experiences when young individuals explore and arouse their interests, aptitudes, and potential in a chosen occupation. The master craftsman monitors and supervises the trainees and encourages them. It is the craftsman responsibility to help the trainees realize that skills acquisition is a lifelong pursuit.
Artisanship in Nigeria is usually perceived to be a trade for those who cannot read and write or the illiterate ones. This perception has reduced the patronage of Nigerian artisans locally and internationally. This prompted the federal government of Nigeria in January 2024 to mandate the industrial training fund to educate and upgrade the skills of Nigerian artisans to compete with their counterparts globally. In the face of this ugly trend, the training and retraining of artisans for domestic and export become the top priority of the renewed hope agenda of the current Nigerian President. The industrial training fund is mandated to establish a solid foundation, use all available resources efficiently to train the younger Nigerians, and increase international competitiveness.
Recommendations
Any society seeking relevance in the international community must train and retrain its youths for exports. Based on this, the paper recommends the following measures that seem to provide a clearer picture for young Nigerians to fulfill their dreams, increase global competitiveness, and build a prosperous and harmonious nation.
1. Young Nigerians should be given the opportunities to explore diverse career fields in the public, private, and other sectors, with improvement in youth employment as its core value.
2. Nigerian youths should be provided with detailed information on diverse career opportunities via industrial training agencies. The information should be integrated and shared on public media and ITF website for the public to have better access to it and help the youths with adequate information on work experience fields as early as possible in their chosen academic and vocational careers to develop professional skills and proper work behavior.
3. The industrial training agency should help develop youth into inventors of technology that will make Nigeria an enviable country. This invention would accommodate the intellectual and creative abilities of young Nigerians in multiple fields.
4. The industrial training agency should organize competitions to attract young talents from various disciplines. The competition and exhibition will attract Nigerians and the global community to invest in the training of young Nigerians and connect with the international community.
5. The industrial training agency should create an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit to connect industry and academia. With the mandate of allowing trainees to apply what they learned and effectively improve the quality of human resources
6. The industrial training agency should conduct a preliminary study on young Nigerians' skills development index to gather relevant information and assist in the formulation of a suitable skills development policy that will serve as a reference for the future skill gap.
7. The Nigeria Ministry of Trade and Investment should engage young talents in the aspect of policy regulation regarding the development of talents, skills, and abilities, as well as supportive measures to encourage young talents in Nigeria.
8. To assist in the cultivation of young talents, the blueprints of the 2024-2028 industrial training agency should entail the promotion and execution of career development materials and brochures. In addition, the ITF should encourage the instructors and facilitators to establish career counseling services.
9. The industrial training agency should cultivate the ability of young Nigerians to participate in community affairs and provide young Nigerians with multiple channels and opportunities for community engagement.
10. The industrial training agency should encourage young Nigerians to explore indigenous industries, develop a sense of recognition, and transform their zeal, thoughts, and passion into reality.
11. The industrial training agency should encourage and subsidize disadvantaged youths to form alliances with the industries. The disadvantaged youths program should develop proposals that combine industries, community, and cultural creativity and care for the disadvantaged persons.
12. The Ministry of Trade and Investment should invite present and former Nigerian ambassadors to share their experience on industrial and social affairs of other nations to encourage young Nigerians on the need to cultivate talents.
13. The industrial training agency should collaborate with the Ministry of Youth Affairs to share valuable experiences and encourage diverse opportunities and channels to be involved in the communities which will fine-turn the relationship between the two Ministries.
14. The Ministry of Trade and Investment should promote youth involvement in industrial policy formulation. Establish a youth advisory committee and conduct discussions on issues that youths are concerned about and collect comments and feedback to provide specific policy recommendations as a way to bridge communications between the government and youth.
15. The industrial training agency should conduct a series of training initiatives that would arouse youths’ willingness to participate in talent cultivation. Budget starter packs for the youths that participate in talent cultivation and encourage youths to engage in multiple skill training.
16. The Ministry of Trade and Investment should reinforce the Ministry connection and integrate the local industries to conduct basic and special training for youth volunteers. Encourage private sectors to assist with the promotion and maintenance of websites for young Nigerian volunteers and integrate the information to provide a communication platform for public and private sectors.
17. The Ministry of Trade and Investment should push proposals for a diverse international corporation to expand international youth exchange, broaden the youth’s vision, and increase youth’s global mobility and competitiveness.
18. The industry training agency should combine forces from governments of all levels, private sectors, development partners, international organizations, and nonprofit organizations to create collaboration and support networks for the training of young Nigerians. These experiences will help me connect with the international community.
19. The industrial training agency should promote a youth travel program to encourage young Nigerians to experience life and develop adaptability and the ability to interact through travel training experiences. In addition to improving self-understanding that will help Nigerian youths to travel around Nigeria. This initiative will make them understand Nigeria better, and become more patriotic and passionate about their country Nigeria.
20. The training agency should adopt information technology to proactively train and retrain Nigerians to expand new areas to predict the future skill gap and offer a clearer picture for the future.
Conclusion
Any society seeking relevance in the international community must train and retrain its youths for exports. To this extent, the Nigerian government directed industrial training to upgrade the skills of artisans for domestic and export to compete globally. The industrial training fund will continue to establish a solid foundation, use all available resources to efficiently train the younger generations, and increase international competitiveness. The training fund is to adapt information technology to proactively train Nigerians to expand to new areas. This way, the agency can predict the future skill gap offer a clearer picture for the future, and provide a phase for young Nigerians to fulfill their dreams, increase global competiveness, and build a prosperous and harmonious nation. This paper examines Nigeria’s aspiration of training and re-training artisans, a blueprint of the 2024-2028 industrial training fund. The paper discussed the philosophical and historical perspective as well as the core value of the industrial training fund. It delves into artisanship practices in Nigeria. The paper recommended 20 measures that seem to provide a clearer picture for young Nigerians to fulfill their dreams, increase global competitiveness, and build a prosperous and harmonious nation.
References
Ari, J. (2022). Nigeria Industrial Training Fund Launches New Policy Framework. ITF strategic policy decision 2022-2025. Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2013). National Policy on Education. (6th Edition). Yaba, Lagos: Nigeria: NERDC Press
ITF, (2004). Minutes and Resolutions of the 5 Chief Executives’ Forum of SIWES Supervising Agencies, December 2004, National Commission for Colleges of Education, Abuja.
Liu, L, C, H (2021) Influence of learning and internship satisfaction on students’ intentions to stay at their current jobs: survey of students participating in Taiwan’s dual education system.Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training, 13(17), 23-32
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (2021) UN Campus Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1 53113 Bonn Germany
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- Quote paper
- Okpeku Timothy (Author), Julius Omonzuanvbo Ihonvbere (Author), 2024, Nigeria’s Aspiration of Training and Re-Training Artisans: A Blueprint of the Industrial Training Fund 2024-2028, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/1442362
